German-headquartered CropEnergies said Wednesday a test of a bioethanol plant in Wilton, the UK, operated by its subsidiary Ensus Ltd had been successful.
The plant, restarted in July on a trial basis, had been offline since February 2015. During that time, technical modifications were carried out to improve the reliability and energy efficiency of the plant. The modified plant had to be tested.
There has been market talk about CropEnergies' operations, as the producer was seen bidding aggressively for product in the spot market in recent weeks. As such, market sources said one of CropEnergies' plants had likely produced less volume than expected or the company may be anticipating closure of the Wilton plant.
The success of the trial and ongoing running of the Ensus plant is significant to the Northwest European ethanol market as, in the past, it has been often considered the swing plant of Europe.
Since CropEnergies' decision to restart the plant, margins have halved and there are indications Belgium's Alcodis has restarted its Rotterdam plant.
Despite these market developments, margins remain positive, albeit narrower, and CropEnergies is optimistic about its overall revenue forecast.
It said lower raw material and energy prices contributed to a successful operating result, as this partly compensated for lower prices in the ethanol market.
CropEnergies has production facilities in four locations: Zeitz in Germany, Wanze in Belgium, Loon-Plage in France, and Wilton.
